Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the highways ministry will shift to quality-cum-cost based system for the selection of bids for different road construction-related projects in place of the age-old least-cost selection process.
The step is aimed at improving the quality of different infrastructure-related works in India, the minister said at an event organised by the International Road Federation (IRF).
Road engineering solutions must be taken care of while preparing Detailed Project Reports (DPR), said the union minister.
“The road ministry will soon be adopting a qualitative tendering process instead of the least cost bidding process to bring in quality and road safety in various projects,” said Gadkari and added that qualitative tendering will assist in incorporating road safety elements in designs, keeping in mind the behaviour of the road users.
Gadkari said poor road engineering is the biggest culprit for rising road accidents in India. A road safety audit of seven roads was conducted in the country recently, he further said.
On the Pune-Mumbai expressway alone, nearly 57 engineering shortcomings were found while certain defects were observed in other road projects.
Addressing the event, IRF president emeritus K K Kapila said promoting a safe transportation system requires a holistic strategy including the engineering of roads, engineering of vehicles, enforcement, education, and emergency care.